Lowe's Guy

I've met some very incredible people in the last few weeks. One was Heath, the plumbing manager at Lowe's in Adrian. Now, Lowe's has always been one of my favorite stores, first when we built our house, and now for all the cool things I can find for Kid Crossing props. Last Friday I walked into Lowe's attempting to invent free-standing sign stands that look similar to road signs. I was looking for umbrella stands (the kind you get for the big outside table umbrellas) to use as the base. The middle of October is apparently NOT the best time to find patio furniture type stuff, at least in Michigan. The guy I asked thought they might have one. When I told him I needed 14 he just gave me a funny look and shook his head. Back to the drawing board.... Earlier I had toyed with the idea of using pvc pipe somehow, so off to the plumbing department I went. I stood there looking at the various connectors for several minutes hoping to be divinely inspired or something when Heath (I looked at his name tag) came over and asked if he could help me. With a laugh, I said that I would be extremely happy if he could, but I honestly didn't have much faith in that possibility. I explained to him what I was trying to do and even drew a little picture in his notebook. He thought and looked for a few minutes and to make a long story a little shorter, came up with a completely new design that was pretty brilliant in my eyes! But that is not the end of the story. He counted out and loaded into my cart all the connectors and caps I would need and then we had to get the actual pipe. He had mentioned something about cutting down the pipe so it would fit in my car, so when he started pulling out the pieces I asked him if he could cut it for me. He kind of hesitated, then slowly said He could... (For each stand I needed six 6 inch pieces and one 4 ft piece.) And he did it! Not with some fancy power tool, either. He used hand clippers to cut each of those 1 inch thick pvc pipes into what seemed like a million pieces. And THEN...he took me around the store and helped me get the other hardware I needed to attach my signs to the poles. I left Lowe's that day very impressed and very excited! Again, I'll add pictures as soon as Brian and I are both home at night and he can help me figure it out (now that he's got our computer put back together.) and when Annette who's actually putting them together gets one completed.